{"product_id":"the-temptation-of-the-impossible-mario-vargas-llosa-9780691131115","title":"The Temptation of the Impossible: Victor Hugo and Les Mis駻ables","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt was one of the most popular novels of the nineteenth century and Tolstoy called it \"the greatest of all novels.\" Yet today Victor Hugo's \u003ci\u003eLes Mis駻ables\u003c\/i\u003e is neglected by readers and undervalued by critics. In \u003ci\u003eThe Temptation of the Impossible\u003c\/i\u003e, one of the world's great novelists, Mario Vargas Llosa, helps us to appreciate the incredible ambition, power, and beauty of Hugo's masterpiece and, in the process, presents a humane vision of fiction as an alternative reality that can help us imagine a different and better world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHugo, Vargas Llosa says, had at least two goals in \u003ci\u003eLes Mis駻ables\u003c\/i\u003e--to create a complete fictional world and, through it, to change the real world. Despite the impossibility of these aims, Hugo makes them infectious, sweeping up the reader with his energy and linguistic and narrative skill. \u003ci\u003eLes Mis駻ables\u003c\/i\u003e, Vargas Llosa argues, embodies a utopian vision of literature--the idea that literature can not only give us a supreme experience of beauty, but also make us more virtuous citizens, and even grant us a glimpse of the \"afterlife, the immortal soul, God.\" If Hugo's aspiration to transform individual and social life through literature now seems innocent, Vargas Llosa says, it is still a powerful ideal that great novels like \u003ci\u003eLes Mis駻ables\u003c\/i\u003e can persuade us is true.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mario Vargas Llosa\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691131112\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691131115\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/23\/2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.79lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.70h x 5.84w x 0.79d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2007 pg. 81\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2007 pg. 64\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/28\/2007 pg. 52\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eForeword\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2007 pg. 78","brand":"Mario Vargas Llosa","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44321214005503,"sku":"9780691131115","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_af350835-d1bb-42a5-8021-aa485ed4db3f.jpg?v=1696329716","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-temptation-of-the-impossible-mario-vargas-llosa-9780691131115","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}